Dendrimers as drug delivery systems
-
1
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Pharmacology, Greece
Dendrimers are a unique class of repeatedly branched polymeric nanomolecules, with a tremendous potential in applications involving imaging, diagnostics and targeted therapy. As multifunctional carriers, they could change the current scenario of cancer research and diagnosis. There are three methods for using dendrimers in drug delivery: the drug may be covalently attached to the periphery of the dendrimer to form dendrimer prodrugs; the drug may be coordinated to the outer functional groups via ionic interactions; or the dendrimer may behave as a unimolecular micelle by encapsulating a pharmaceutical, through the formation of a dendrimer-drug supramolecular assembly. Applications of dendrimers typically involve conjugating other chemical groups onto their surface that can function as detecting agents, affinity ligands, targeting components, radioligands, imaging agents or pharmaceutically active compounds. As targeted drug delivery systems, dendrimers could change the current scenario in cancer research, diagnosis and therapeutics. However, current knowledge regarding the safety of nanocarriers is insufficient. Clinical trial will identify negative side effects and will evaluate their clinical significance.
Keywords:
Dendrimers,
anticancer therapy,
drug delivery system
Conference:
8th Southeast European Congress on Xenobiotic Metabolism and Toxicity - XEMET 2010, Thessaloniki, Greece, 1 Oct - 5 Oct, 2010.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Nanopharmacology / Nanomedicine
Citation:
Kyriazis
G and
Papaioannidou
P
(2010). Dendrimers as drug delivery systems.
Front. Pharmacol.
Conference Abstract:
8th Southeast European Congress on Xenobiotic Metabolism and Toxicity - XEMET 2010.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fphar.2010.60.00155
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
05 Mar 2011;
Published Online:
04 Nov 2010.
*
Correspondence:
Mr. Grigorios Kyriazis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Pharmacology, Thessaloniki, Greece, kyriazisgri@gmail.com